Many people don’t know what a property search agent or property finder does.
And if you do, what are you looking for from one?
Although all of us are hoping to find your next home, it is worth considering a few points before signing up with one…
- Do they know the search area well? When I say well, do they know most of the housing stock, have they lived there for years and understand how the market works? There is one very successful and excellent property finder team who will do a search for you almost anywhere in the UK but I think that they are very much on their own in being good at the job from a top down approach (although there are many areas that they know backwards).
- It is surprising how different areas of the country and even within counties or from local town to town (and it can be as little as 10 or even less miles away from another area), experience a completely different market from each other. This could be to do with commute times, schools, pending builds, issues with planes…The market is very nuanced and means that having someone explaining all the different factors to you whilst walking you through issues can be so very valuable just as a starting point. When you read headlines in the paper that house prices have risen (for example) 2% in the last quarter, it could be a completely different percentage – higher or quite often lower than where you hoping to move to. You need the local knowledge. And listen to see if they are being realistic with their ‘promises’.
- My main search area – in and around Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells (see ourdevserver.co.uk/dev/khf/ for details of complete search area) has so many factors to consider with every search. Small examples include terrible traffic in Tunbridge Wells and how that would affect your school commute or access to the station. A possible very large build just to the southeast of Tonbridge that could affect a very large area of land with all the consequences. The possible expansion of Gatwick and all the ramifications that that may bring. You can see the patterns on Rightmove if you know all the information – many properties on at this time of year are in these areas, people want to sell to get away from the worry of their houses losing value and their lives changing. Your search agent should be able to look at Rightmove and know the story on all the properties on in your price bracket in your search area.
- Have property search agents got your back? Is your property search agent really understanding what you want. If they are experienced they will be able to read you (and your partner) and probably know the sort of house that you are looking for and where it may be way before you do, sometimes on the initial meeting. It is a process, ideally the ‘perfect’ house won’t come up week one of your search, as you (as a client) are unlikely to feel ready to buy it. Some houses in our neck of the woods only come up every 30 years or so (this will change) and may well be off-market and command a premium in the very sought-after locations whereas similar houses below a flight path a few extra miles from the station will languish on Rightmove for months.
- A good search agent will be taking every aspect when they view a house, they are considering everything that could be problem as well as a real benefit, whilst also computing how a house will work for you going forward.
- They should be future proofing your purchase and/or considering your investment timeframe, they should not be pushing you to buy a more expensive property that will add stress to your life. Life is too stressful anyway without adding higher debts. They need to prepare you for the expected things in life (shout out to the slightly older property search agents who have most things thrown at them and know that life sometimes doesn’t go how you think that it might!).
- Does your property search agent understand pricing in the market and will they move the deal along whilst acting in the very best interests of their client and be prepared to sort any manner of issues that may come up. Vendors and buyers are very vulnerable as they may only move a very few times in their life, it is their biggest purchase. Whatever career they do and however much their earn or whatever they do, a property search agent needs to understand that this does not make them good at buying houses or even knowing when the right house comes up. That is our job.
And what a great job it is. Yes we deal with lots of tricky problems, human nature is predictable in its unpredictability and many a deal test boundaries that you thought had been tested before (but hadn’t!). Quite often the house is the most well behaved part of any deal. I have made many new friends from my clients, I really value that aspect of the job. Often we are working (out of London) with clients for six months plus and the end of a search can be quite sad (for me!) as most people are very interesting to work with, but with the upside that clients are in their next stage of life, hopefully happy and in a great house.